Author
Topic: Tenzin Zangpo Rinpoche (22/02/2016) (Read 565 times)

During festivals, we should remember impermanence and enhance our practice.

During Spring Festival, everyone eats, drinks, plays, and travels around, which waste lots of time. We, the people who study the Dharma, need to value the time and do not idle. We have to stick to the good habits that we have built and do not slacken; otherwise, we might easily fall into the state of getting lazy and slack, which leads to the stagnation of the practice or even regression.

In normal times, even though we need to work and are very busy, we still persevere in reading books, studying, reciting sutras, and doing the meditation. However, during the Spring Festival, everyone regards this as the biggest and most important festival, so s/he gets slack and does not take the practice seriously.During this special period, we put away our practice, enjoy, and pursue joy, why? This is because the karmic obstructions and obstacles we accumulated from the very beginning appear in front of us. Facing the great colorful temptation during the festival, we cannot conquer, and our mind cannot stay still. Therefore, we follow our bad habits and idle away time in a lazy and inactive state.

Using the excuse of celebrating the festival, those who do not eat meat start to eat meat during the festival; those who do not drink alcohol begin to drink; and those who never quit doing smoke offerings and Ganachakra offerings stop.Therefore, starting from Lantern festival, we have to summarize and introspect well. First, we have to investigate if we have made the mistakes I mentioned above. If yes, we have to make vows again in front of the Guru, Buddhas, and Bodhisattvas that we will determine to practice purely without interruptions from the bottom of our hearts. If we do not make vows again, our practice will go downwards and won’t be as pure as before. We will become lazier and more sluggish, which bring big opposing forces to the practice.

Second, since January 1st of the Chinese Lunar Year, this period is Spring Festival and is also Losar. We as Mahayana Buddhists should generate bodhicitta, chant sutras, and transfer the merits to the boundless all beings. Have we done so? If not, then during the Spring Festival, many beings are killed. They are very pathetic, so we have to repent well, chant sutras, and make merit transference to guide them.

Third, on New Year’s Eve we get together with many relatives and friends and have dinner, but today, how many people are still together? It’s impermanence. It appears anytime, and there is no exception for Spring Festival. We should think well and deeply experience such change and then generate the solid value of impermanence from deep in the heart. Meanwhile, we make great vows in front of the Guru, Buddhas, and Bodhisattvas that in the new year, we will make good use of our human body with freedoms and advantages and understand the meanings of the impermanence of life. We will determine to be energetic and diligent and tackle ubiquitous obstacles. We will often pray actively for the blessings of the Guru and the Three Jewels so that our practice can reach a higher point.